before we start I recommend we take a gander at this video http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/jimquisition/7161-Perfect-Pasta-Sauce
The last minute is irrelevent and the video doesn’t mention halo but Jim brings up a good points that I think will very well apply to future halos aswell as most video games. The video describes a story of how a sauce company was looking for a perfect sauce to beat their competition (the sauce company being halo and COD being the competitor) a marketer came in and tested different sauces for the company, and they found that there were distinct types of consumers who enjoyed different types of pasta (very similar to the shooter market now). It was found that a third of all testers prefered chunky sauce but no one sold it because it was deemed as unneeded. So the sauce company released a chunky type (lets say a console based, competitive arena shooter) and ended up making tons of money from the people who weren’t being appealed to before (fans of competitive console shooters) The basic message here is that sucseeding isn’t about ripping off your competition like most FPSs we see today but instead do something good and unique because the gamers have few other games that meet their specific and slightly niche demands now have a haven for them alone to enjoy alot (seriously how many FPS competitive console shooters do we see with arena style gameplay)
Do I think this one post from a dedicated fan will change much, probably not but I do think this is a great video and possible disscusion on how halo can live on even decades from now if it knows how much it is needed in the world (halo will always be needed by us fans but sometimes downsizing and lowering expectations is the key to success)
Remember guys, be unique and appeal to those who have no where else to go